A Life Less Ordinary

Leadership Development

By Helen

I am doing a lot of leadership development type stuff this year in my MBA program. For awhile I thought that it wouldn't make sense to focus on something I'm pretty good and interested in already, and rather focus on Finance or other core business skills. Then it dawned on me that I'm really not that good at finance and probably never will be so I will at least in the foreseeable future need to be able to know enough to be dangerous and find other people to do that part of the business. However, leadership development is something that I enjoy and would love to stand out in as better than others.

Funny enough, that's exactly what the book Extraordinary Leader focuses on as well. I'm glad that in my own life I have been able to decipher and actually practice working on my strengths throughout the year. I have been doing that by being President of Women in Business, being a Leadership Fellow in the program and taking classes such as Women at the Top (women CEOs come speak to the class) and taking Leading High Performing Teams next quarter as well as Finding Your Voice. It's been really cool to be able to take time during my MBA program to think about leadership both in the classroom and in practice as a leader in the program.

Having said that, as a Leadership Fellow and President of the Club it is definitely hard for me to coach other people to focus on their strengths rather than dwell on their weaknesses. When I am coaching my group, it is hard to feel that I am contributing if all I am doing is telling them things that are going well. I feel compelled to point out all the things that can be improved upon. So definitely something I've been thinking about and going to continue working on.

My manager over the summer shared with a Start, Stop, Continue model of giving feedback which allows you to share what the person is doing well, what to improve on and what to continue doing…but as it turned out giving that feedback in writing was pretty jarring to people, so I think if I pursue this model, I will use it verbally and not in writing.

Time?

by Helen

I have time on my hands. I'm not quite sure what to do with this to be perfectly honest. I also feel incredibly guilty. Like I should be taking on doing more things rather than enjoying this moment of calmness.

I do think that my definition of having time is a little off - I am planning a wedding and I don't have a single free weekend between now and July 10th approximately (there are some weekends that still have a day or two open, but they are filling up fast).

But between clubs transitioning to new leaders, a slow academic quarter and no TAing or a job, life is pretty manageable right now and I am kind of loving it. So what if I took a nap today. I deserve it.

The only thing that I need to figure out is my workout plan between now and the wedding - I kind of had a system down but since my 6 mile run last weekend and a follow up really painful run last Monday, I've falled off the bandwagon of working out, so will try to get back on it.

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Serene Hike aka Conquering the Past

By Helen

Just over a year ago (middle of June last year), I hiked Lake Serene with my new MBA classmates to be at Foster. I was the slowest one on the hike and to make matters worse, I twisted my ankle just as we were beginning our descent, making me even slower. There were so many things that unfolded after that hike. And no, I don't think that it was a trigger moment of any kind, but it's interesting to look back on it. I think the confidence that I was lacking as I was starting a new chapter in my life really escalated after that month. I was scared of school, scared of classes, scared of the change. Truthfully, I believe that I am a strong person and when push comes to shove I figure things out and win the important battles. But I think what I did wrong last year is I didn't make the right bets up front. I self-corrected pretty quickly but the confidence was shaken.

Anyway, this weekend, I organized a hike to Lake Serene with two other MBA interns. All girls, all MBAs, all fabulous people. We had a great time. We climbed up, we ate lunch, they swam in the glacier lake and most importantly I did not twist my ankle. Also, I was able to reflect on the different place I am in just a year later. I am working at a cool place for the summer, meeting great people and going back to school as a confident, established, successful student who is now in the position to help and guide others. I also have friends and a social life that is busier than I can possibly keep up with and I love it that way.

I am looking forward to giving back everything that others put into me last year in their efforts to help me find my footing. And that doesn't just include business school people, but also family and friends and of course Adam who put up with a whole bunch of lack of confidence stuff that wasn't easy or fun.

Here is to a new year of kicking butt and taking names. Because I can and because I will.

Run Foster Run

by Helen

In December a couple of classmates and I began Run, Foster, Run in our school. The idea was simple - to train for the half marathon in Vancouver that takes place in May.  Really, all I wanted was someone to train with because I did not think I could run a half marathon and have the discipline to train for it on my own.

The amazing thing was the response that we got from the initial email and the turnout at our weekly runs.  Since middle of December, we have run as a group almost every weekend in a different part of Seattle.  We started around Greenlake running 3 miles and are now up to 11-20 miles depending on what people are training for. Every week we also take a picture and post it on our facebook page. 

For me, the experience has been particularly amazing I think.  I took this up as a pure goal setting exercise. I felt that business school swallowed me whole leaving no time for alone time let alone taking care of me time.  I felt the earth was shaking under my feet and I was definitely going to fail my finance, statistics and accounting finals.  So I wanted to set a goal and try to achieve something that I knew if I worked hard for, I could do (at that point I did not think the same was true for my quant classes). 

The first time in December when we ran in 20 degree weather, I had to take a break and walk twice while doing one loop around Greenlake.  Then just as I got my runs to comfortable 4 miles, I developed tendinitis.  I had to stop running, go to the doctor, who then sent me to physical therapy.  I worked through the pain with my physical therapist.  She made me wear a funny sock at night to stretch my tendon, put steroid cream on my legs and use some metal thing to stretch out the back of my leg to make me less susceptible to twisted ankles, etc. Then I left for Kenya for two weeks which was another break from running.  When I got back, I returned to running alone twice a week and with our group once a week.

Anyway, this last weekend, I ran 11.3 miles with a friend, while talking about life the whole time.  Hard to believe that 4 months ago, I couldn't run 2 miles. 

A classmate of mine recently sent me an email that I have inspired the whole class and how great Run, Foster, Run is. That was probably one of the nicest emails I have ever received.  We also got running shirts that we'll be able to wear to Vancouver to represent our school.  We even got some funding from our student body, a club and admissions office. 

I guess my point is, this has been an amazing experience for me.  Probably the highlight of my MBA career.  The fact that I have classmates who are all helping each other, talking about how to stretch, eat and run well, while balancing everything else, has really made the experience at Foster an unforgettable one.  I don't know if I have ever been a part of an organization that would have helped me achieve something like this. 

So when you are looking for your MBA program, look for people who will be able to truly help you when you are down and truly support your initiatives that you take up, for whatever reason you choose.  That is what makes Foster different from other schools and that is what I will remember. 

Kenya Study Tour Overview

Twenty five students made up of Foster MBAs as well as other UW grad programs arrived in Nairobi, Kenya on March 14^th. Over the course of two weeks we explored Kenyan business, culture and life. With the guidance of three knowledgeable and enthusiastic student trip leaders, we visited a variety of companies – from start ups to giants like Winafrique (renewable energy) and KenCall to Unilever, Safaricom, Barclays, Kenya Airways, and many others. We had a chance to meet amazing business leaders with degrees from Stanford Business School and from all other parts of the world.

We drove all over Nairobi to see what life was truly like in the developing world. This included a company and site visit with Jamii Bora, Kenya's largest microfinance firm. The leaders of the organizations afterwards took us to Kibera (one of the two largest slums in Kenya) where we got to see microfinance funding at work and lifting people from the streets into sheltered living. We also saw a school and an orphanage in a village outside of Nairobi which gave us a good perspective on the value that education has in Kenya, considering it has a 70% literacy rate.

In addition to businesses that we visited in Kenya, we also had plenty of cultural experiences. For example, we visited Karen Blixen's house (the subject of Out of Africa), saw the Bomas of Kenya (where traditional Kenyan tribal dances including Barack Obama's were performed), learned and visited an elephant orphanage, fed giraffes at the giraffe center and of course we went on a three day safari. A part of the group also spent one morning on a hot air balloon ride over the African savanna seeing the sunrise and wild life early in the morning. Many of us also got to try our hand at bargaining at city markets where we gifts like masks, sculptures, paintings and jewelry.

Overall, this was a once in a lifetime experience. The feeling from the trip was that most of us could have gone on a safari on our own, but we could not have gotten an inside glimpse into a very hopeful and young economy in the developing world. This is definitely the best part of business school for me – getting to take advantage of opportunities like this one.

March 23, 2010 – Powerpoints in Kenya Corporations Need Work

by Helen

On Tuesday we went to the United Nations. While UN is based in Geneva and New York, Nairobi houses the UNEP – environmental protection division of the UN. It also has a room where the UN body can meet in its entirety, though it very rarely does.

The presentation itself was pretty terrible to be honest. While this has been true of most presentations with powerpoint used as a tool, the UN stood out for sending people to talk who were not able to answer any questions or sound even remotely credible.

Here was my major takeaway as illustrated below:
Q: How do you measure success of your programs?
A: Well they are all a good idea and people want them.
Q: How do you decide to terminate a program if its unsuccessful?
A: We only terminate programs if there is a way.
Q: How do you track your work?
A: We don’t.
Statement: 150 species a day go extinct in the world.

Q: Well, do you know how many new species are born/created a day?

A: No.

In all fairness, I have never been a super fan of the UN because it is for the most part so ineffective and has no enforcement mechanisms, however, this was especially bad I thought.

I was discussing with my classmate that it will definitely never be profitable to “save endangered species.” So what UNEP needs to do is to make an argument for saving species. Be it putting a cost on our plan and estimating it out while talking about air and water and energy, or in some other meaningful way. UNEP is the only international body that can come close to having the capacity to do it. Instead the leadership is spending establishing education programs and not tracking any result or impact they are having.

I hope we were just sent poor speakers and there is more to the UNEP then what was presented, but if nothing else, UN needs to start thinking about metrics more than just “good ideas.”
In the afternoon we went to visit Eastern African Breweries – EABL. That visit was good – we toured a factory and saw how beer is made. Two people on our trip have been tracking our beer consumption and we as a group of 25 people have consumed over 600 beers over the course of two weeks. We proudly reported those numbers to the corporate headquarters.

Winafrique and Venture Capitalism in Kenya

by Helen

After Jamii Bora, we visited Winafrique, a startup in Kenya that focuses on selling a combination of solar, wind and diesel energy to companies on a small scale. The company visit was very different and very good because we have not seen a lot of start up companies run by young, energetic people who recently graduated. The major customer of Winafrique is Safaricom and they in total have 8 good clients out of 14 total clients and they’ve done 300 proposals for work. The culture of the company reminded me a lot about the company I worked for at Meridian – small, nimble, adapting, etc.

The visit clearly showed the great need for venture capital in the country and how little of it there is. The visit to WInafrique made for an interesting juxtaposition as compared to the visit to the slums. There are many opportunities in Kenya for businesses, many opportunities to employ people and many resources that need to be taken advantage of. Kenya also has an opportunity to skip “industrial revolution” and move on to more sustainable technologies that are introduced now and build the infrastructure with that as opposed to with all the harmful development that we as humanity established in 20th century.

Anyway, definitely lots of opportunities in Kenya especially considering the 70% literacy rate and the underemployment that is rampant.

Monday – 3.22.10 – “Charity can never get people out of poverty”

by Helen

On Monday, we had a very impact-full visit to Jamii Bora, a microfinance organization that was started by 50 women beggars in 1999. It is the largest microfinance organization in Kenya. To be honest, I did not really know what a microfinance organization was until earlier this week. Basically, the idea with Jamii Bora is that it gives a small loan to people (starting at $10) in order to start a business. There are lots of detalis with Jamii Bora, for example, you have to save $10 in order to get $20 to borrow. The money you save is the collateral in case you default on your loan. The interest is tiny – along the lines of .05% and Jamii Bora does not turn anyone away. So if you are HIV + or have a sick kid, or you are an alcoholic, the organization does not deny you a loan if you can bring in collateral to prove that you can save.

As a result, Jamii Bora started many other initiatives, like health insurance programs, alcoholism education, etc. The women at Jammii Bora were the first to realize that if a woman’s child is sick, she will pay for his illness before she repays her loan. The default rate on the loans at Jamii Bora is 10%.

On Monday, we had a very powerful presentation by the staff of Jamii Bora. A couple of things struck me – the organization focuses heavily on moving people away from the notion of charity and giving people handouts. The leaders believe that an individual has to feel ownership for the money they receive because they are more likely to then repay it as opposed to spend it non productively. Jamii Bora also has business education classes to help people with basic accounting and leadership development so when they are ready to hire people to work for them, they know how to keep books.

There were amazing speakers who talked to us about their stories and how Jamii Bora helped them. They were former criminals, beggers, women who were forced into prostitution, etc. and are now relatively successful in Kenya with businesses and incomes.

After the official visit, we were taken by Jamii Bora to Nairobi’s largest slum. Most of Jamii Bora’s clients reside in that part of town so they wanted us to see the work that they are doing with our own eyes. That experience was one that I will never forget. The smells, the open sewers, the endless “houses” made of old metal pieced together to provide a roof, people doing laundry in dirty run off water, and so many other images were a first for me.

We spoke to one woman who used Jamii Bora money to buy coal in bulk and then resell it. She makes 150 shillings in profit a week (about $2). Another woman sells chicken head and neck fried to people. She also takes care of her grandkids because her kids are unable to do so. She makes about 250 shillings a week ($3 approximately) .The most interesting thing about her is that she said that she used to live in poverty but now she has “this” and is almost ready to move into subsidized housing (provided by Jamii Bora). True poverty to her means sleeping on the streets wrapped in toilet paper. When we asked how people use the bathrooms, they said that it’s calling using a “flying toilet” so using a plastic bag and then disposing of it in mostly non designated locations.

I wish I was a writer so I could truly describe what I saw and the vastness of it. There are 2 major slums in the city of Nairobi, and a million people live in those slums. There are children born every day and diseases are rampant. There are 2 schools and a hospital run by an NGO in the area. And yet, life goes on. I can’t say that I felt an overwhelming feeling of despair. People living in the slums still have a roof over their head and they are very proud of that. They dream of getting their children out of there and therefore talk a lot about the fact that they are able to send them to school. No English was spoken in that neighborhood, so we had translators with us. Lastly, the other idea that was hard to swallow is that we saw the “success” stories of Jamii Bora. It puts it into perspective of what the failures are.

I guess I walked away feeling very fortunately to have been born in the place where I was because there is no way children that are born in the slums deserve the life that they inherit, nor is it fair how hard they have to work to get out of there.

Jamii Bora provides some solutions and reaches out to help, but the country has a long way to go to get its urban poor on its feet.

Safari Adventure

by Helen

On Friday morning we head out to Masai Mara for our weekend long Safari get away.  We stayed at Sopa Lodge, which was very similar to the eco-lodges that Adam and I stayed at in Central America.  The unique part about traveling in Africa is that once we were about 50 miles out of Nairobi, there were no more powerlines so most of the population does not have electricity.  Those who do, use generators.  As a result, the lodge we stayed at, was fully run on generators, which run on fuel.  So we only had water and electricity between certain hours, which was not limiting at all, but a different experience from before. 

Anyway, Friday, 4-6pm we did an evening game drive and we saw elephants, zebras, lions, lots of deer like animals, deek-deeks, giraffes and many others that I can’t really remember.  It was stunning to drive through Africa and looking around.  I am ashamed to say it, but I definitely had Circle of Life stuck in my head the whole time.  Friday night we had dinner and then watched the hyenas get fed at 10pm.  The food was gone in 30 seconds and they hyenas do shriek just like they do in the Lion King.  In case you were wondering. 

Saturday, we did an all day game drive as well as visited the Masai village.  The Masai are one of the 42 tribes in Kenya.  They believe that they have a mandate to own as many animals as they can (cows, goats, pigs, etc). So traditionally, they were a very violent tribe that moves ever 7 years to a different location due to termites eating their mud huts.  There are still 10M Kenyans who live in mud huts and work the land and one of the most prominent groups are the Masai. 

In order for us to see how they live, we each had to pay 1000 shillings ($12) and they showed us their dances, how they make fire, walked us into their huts and of course took us to their market where we were asked to buy their “original work” that the created – beaded bracelets, necklaces, tooth of a lion and many others.  The representative that showed us around definitely spoke English because he attends one of the Serena Williams built schools in Kenya. 

It was definitely interesting to see how the Masai used to live and supposedly still do, but it seems that they are in a weird place.  From an outside eye, it seems that they pick and choose the parts of the past that they replicate. For example, they say that there is a village medic who cures all the sick, but in the huts, I definitely saw some vitamins and medications for kids. I also saw random tennis shoes, casio watches, etc.  So while I don’t think this was all a façade because we saw many Masai dressed people tending to the animals as we drove, it definitely wasn’t super authentic either.  I’m sure it’s a weird space to be in while trying to determine how much of modern life to accept and how much to stick to old traditions.  I personally saw a lot of similarities between the Masai in Kenya and the Amish in the US. When I get back to Seattle, I will paste some pictures of the Masai.

After our stop in the village, we went back into the park and drove around more to see more animals.  We stopped for lunch by the river where we were very much so harassed by monkeys.  FYI – monkeys really do like bananas as they stole most of our bananas out of hands and lunch boxes.  They were not that big of fans of oranges and passion fruit.  After that, we took a walk along the river and saw a crocodile and many, many hippos.  The guide who escorted us had a very large gun.  Then we got caught in the downpour and headed back to our cars. 

We finished our day with one more dusk game drive in search for leopards.  We didn’t see any, but we did see two lions get into a fight.  The girl lion was clearly not into the guy’s moves so she attacked him and he roared at her.  Then they both went back to sleep.  We also saw some lion cubs and a lion hunting a topee, but apparently the toppee is super smart and one lioness could not take the toppee on.  But it was interesting to watch.

Sunday morning 12 of us went on a hot air balloon ride over the safari.  It was an early start (3.45am wake up call) but totally worth it to see the sun rise over the savanna and animals from a very different perspective.  We saw a herd of buffalo protecting their young from hyenas that were surrounding them as well as an almost birth by a water buffalo.  Seeing giraffes and lions from up top was also pretty surreal.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and totally worth it. Once we landed, we went over to a place where champagne breakfast was set up for us.  It felt a little colonial, but so does everything in Africa if you are receiving services, or so it seems.

Day 5 - TelemComm Day

by Helen

On March 18, we had a free morning during which we had lunch at the Fairmont Hotel.  It was an expensive lunch but totally worth it.  In the afternoon, we had our next company visit which was with Safaricom, the largest telecom company in Kenya (which is also owned by Vodafone). 

Sidenote – in order to get international credit for the class, we all had to partner up and pick a company that the group will visit to research on and prepare the class.  So my classmate Kaia and I, researched Safaricom. 

The visit itself was nothing spectacular.  As with most Kenyan speakers, they are pretty hard to hear (apparently, it’s a matter of respect to speak softly).  But the research that we did was pretty much reiterated in the presentation.  Safaricom has 80% of market share and it is rapidly dropping due to their competitors better prices. They anticipated leveling off at 65% market share.  One of the biggest issues that they face is the mutli-sim card option that many people are choosing – as a result they buy multiple sim-cards and use which ever one offers a better rate (date time vs. night time for example).  Another interesting point is that only 10% of Kenya is on the power grid, however, Safaricom covers a way larger area than the power infrastructure, so Kenya’s telecom infrastructure has effectively taken over the one provided by the government. 

When we asked if Safaricom anticipates getting into other industries or acquiring businesses, they seemed to indicate that Safaricom is focused on its core business.  Up until the visit with Safaricom, I was sensing a great sense of optimism in the country and the opportunities.  It was interesting to see a telecom giant start worrying about competition in a developing country.  To me, it means that the market is evolving, which hopefully leads to only good things.  

In the afternoon, we visited Swarthmore University Executive MBA class where I had a chance to sit in on their version of the Leading Teams and Organizations class.  It was very similar to our class, to be honest.  There was a class long case discussion, with questions on the board and the professor leading the conversation.  There were about 40 people in the class, all crème de la crème of the work force in Kenya.  Some participated, some were on their laptops, and the professor was fairly engaging.  I thought it was interesting that the whole class consisted of black students and the professor was white.  Apparently, the white people in Kenya do not do their graduate education in Kenya, but rather do it in the US, UK or other parts of the world.  When I asked if this was effective segregation, I was told that it is not really viewed as such because there are no “white” grad schools. 

After the class, we joined the rest of our program at Haandi restaurant (second visit during this trip).  The only notable thing about the dinner was that I ordered a vegetarian dish for myself and did not have any meat during that meal.  I don’t think there is any risk of me becoming a vegetarian, but I Felt that I was not in the mood for heavy food and a vegetable dish helped me not feel stuffed to my stomach.